Elizabeth Moran

The series For research purposes only presents stamped facsimiles of every page of TIME’s editorial guide from 1924, which contains the earliest known guidelines for fact-checking. Officially, the contents of the TIME archive may only be accessed “For research purposes only,” and any facsimile created by the archive librarians are stamped designating it as such. 

As unknowing collaborators, the archive librarians enabled my research to take form through the process of fulfilling my facsimile request. New, unique prints simultaneously present the earliest fact-checking processes with the markers of contemporary information gate-keeping.